Clean-Water Rules Drain Taxpayer Money

In “Cities Exaggerate Cost of Water Cleanup” (Opinion, March 10), David Beckman, Mark Gold and Steve Fleischli claim that over 50 cities and the County of Los Angeles “exaggerate” the cost of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s new storm water regulations. On the contrary, the only exaggeration is in the actual benefits of these ill-conceived rules.

The water board failed to conduct the state-required economic analysis prior to adopting these regulations. The chief legislative analyst of the city of Los Angeles did that. The conclusion? That “the global nature of the permit requirements would require the expenditure of a great deal of money for very little return in storm water improvements.”

We all--citizens and public officials alike--want cleaner water. But it is senseless to waste scarce taxpayer money on unproven programs that won’t deliver meaningful environmental benefits.

Beckman, Gold and Fleischli state that cities should not “be given free rein to implement plans without having to prove that their efforts were actually improving water quality.” All we are asking is that the regional board be held to the same standard.

John K. Pratt

Mayor, Bellflower